Leaders say religious harmony a blessing

The Jakarta Post, Tue, 03/10/2009 2:44 PM  

Philip Kun-tjoro Widaja, secretary-general of the Indonesian Buddhist Association (Walubi): 

Indonesia's diversity is something we have to cherish. I think different religious groups have intensified communications between each other in search of understanding in the past few years. They have shared tolerance so that they understand the purpose of a ritual or the way of thinking of other religious followers. Tolerance is something extraordinary and the foundation of harmony. 

It's impossible to gather everybody to talk about religious harmony. The role of religious leaders is therefore important to disseminate new developments, thoughts and anything related to efforts to uphold unity in diversity to the grassroots. The responsibility is not exclusively handed to religious leaders, but is also the obligation of anyone involved in interfaith dialogues. 

The conference represented acknowledgement of Indonesia's achievements in nurturing dialogues among different faith groups. Such a dialogue will find its relevance now that the West is taking on the issue of immigrants who bring along with them their cultures and religions. The world is moving toward that course. The West is witnessing the fast-growing development of Islam, often considered unfriendly. 

Indonesia happens to be the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. The way the Muslim majority gets along with other faith groups will serve as a benchmark for religious harmony in the world. 

Markus Solo, Holy See official in charge of interfaith dialogue in Asia: 

People in Indonesia in fact experience religious harmony and the government protects freedom of religion. There may be challenges facing the harmony, which the West sees as politicization of religion for personal gain or political interests. 

We in the West have heard about the extremist groups that cause trouble. Amnesty International has also reported human rights violations there. Those are challenges for the majority group in Indonesia to prove that the country is a peaceful and comfortable place to live in. 

The Holy See will send a delegation to Indonesia in November to learn more about the country and to observe and feel how harmony prevails in such a diverse society and how people there tackle the challenges. The Italian foreign ministry has precisely referred to Indonesia as a model for religious harmony, given the fact that Italy is now taking on challenges related to immigrants. Dialogue with the Muslim world is of great relevance today. 

What we may lack is probably a transparent and orderly mechanism to make sure the message of the dialogue can reach out to people at the grass roots. We all know that those people are the most vulnerable to the problems. The message from the top may sound wonderful, but it may not transpire at a practical level. We need a joint commission on crisis management where we can discuss and cope with common challenges or other humanitarian problems such as natural disasters. 

Bachtiar Effendy, Muhammadiyah director of political affairs: 

The principle of unity and diversity remains honored and upheld, but the reality does not always work in tandem, as a number of ethnic and religious conflicts have shown. 

There are many issues being addressed by those who are engaged in interfaith dialogues. The issues include religious freedom, human rights, respect for others' beliefs, disarmament, globalization and so forth. Unfortunately, many organizations often fail to tackle some thorny issues that may well have served as sources of conflict. Cases in point include building places of worship, religious proselytization, burials and donations from overseas. 

While no one can deny the importance of dialogue, it is equally pressing that practical problems need to be overcome. Undoubtedly, interfaith dialogue has reduced tension or conflict, but often those talks fall short of practical steps to solve the problems, which need a more direct and blunt way of settlement. 

Interfaith dialogue has intensified in the last few years, yet religious leaders are confronted with the question of sustainability of the dialogue. The talks may bring fresh and new ideas, but they have the tendency to start from scratch. 

Therefore it's important to form a permanent working group, both at national and international levels. This would allow serious issues to be discussed continuously until a workable solution is reached.7

Related Article:

RI Peaceful coexistence a model, challenge